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Pochettino: Leicester are top and they deserve it

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino believes Leicester deserve to be in pole position in the title race but has urged his players to focus on themselves.

Spurs take on Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, knowing they can cut the gap behind Leicester to two points before the Foxes play Southampton on Sunday.

Pochettino’s men have been unable to the halt the Barclays Premier League leaders, who have won four of their last five matches 1-0, but the Tottenham head coach insists his players cannot get frustrated.

“We need to give the credit to Leicester,” the Argentinian said.

“Today they are top because they deserve to be. From the beginning of the season they were fantastic. We cannot take the credit from them.

“We are in a very good position but we cannot compare with another team. We need to fight. We have seven games and it’s important to fight until the end of the season with the possibility to achieve good things.

“One is the possibility to win the title and the other is to finish in the top four, which is important for us.”

Tottenham are gunning for their first league triumph since 1961 but even qualifying for the Champions League would represent an excellent season, as they sit 11 points clear of fifth.

Their progress has been all the more impressive given they boast the youngest squad in the Premier League, but Pochettino believes Spurs also have the maturity to hold their nerve during the run-in.

“We are young but we are mature enough to realise the situation to compete with different teams,” Pochettino said.

“Today it’s an advantage as we are second in the table. Maybe if we are at the bottom people would say we are too young as a squad.

“The balance is good as we are young but mature. There’s a lot of examples of different teams and clubs that have won titles or trophies with a good balance.

“We have that between the young and experienced players. We have experience, energy and it’s not only young players as we have excellent senior players. We have the youngest squad in the Premier League. That is the reality.”